July 2012 Blue Press_2012 Blue Press 5/14/12 10:44 AM Page 40 40 LASSIC ANDGUNS By John Marshall C from “BuffaloH Bill” Cody, “Bat” Masterson, and: Savager Pocket Pistols The Savage Arms Company was a fierce com- shooter/author Edward C. Crossman. Guns of the o petitor in the handgun market at the beginning of same design in .380 caliber were introduced in r the 20th Century. Its Model 1907 .45 caliber pistol 1917. In World War I (then known as “The Great e went up against John Browning’s immortal Model War”) many shipments were made to France, and r 1911 in the final U.S. military service pistol trials. one order was sent to Portugal. During the wartime f In that contest the Browning entry ultimately pre- years U.S. sales of these pistols surged significantly. p vailed, but the basic design of that Savage pistol Following the conflict, additional company sales e lived on for years in a series of quality pocket pis- records were set in 1919 and 1920. A number of d tols that were very popular in their day. Today those pistols are classic collectibles. Arthur Savage was born in 1857 in Kingston, Jamaica. He subsequently lived in England and Australia, but finally wound up in New York working for a publisher of scientific works. There, he developed skills in conceptualizing and designing. He filed a patent for a fiber-cleaning machine in 1886 and then devoted his attention to firearms. His first design was in 1887, for a .45-70 military rifle fed from a tubular magazine. Having sold the design to Hartley & Graham, he and his family moved to Utica, New York to manage a struggling railroad. He mean- while worked on a lever-action rifle. On April 5, 1894, he started the Savage Repeating Arms Com- pany in Utica. His Model 1895 rifle was actually made by Marlin, but Savage soon built his own fac- tory. With a name change to Savage Arms, he began production on the improved Model 99 ham- merless lever action rifle. It was very popular and was produced by Savage well into the 1980s. Sav- “The double-stack age Arms continues operations to the present day. In the early 1900s William Condit, Elbert Searle and Morris Smith had collaborated on magazine allowed increased pistol designs, and had received a patent for an interesting handgun. Condit brought the patent to the attention of Savage Arms in 1904, and capacity in a standard- in late 1905 or early 1906, the company bought the rights to it. This design became, with certain improvements and modifications, length grip frame.The Savage the Model 1907 .45 pistol. While the U.S. Mili- tary trials of this pistol were continuing, the com- pany worked on developing pocket pistol ver- pistols, beginning with the sions. The Savage .45 pistol was not adopted by the military, but the work on the smaller pistols proved successful. military .45 version, were among the The first of these was the Model 1907 pocket pistol, in .32 ACP caliber, introduced in 1908. This single-action pistol pointed naturally and featured first to use this two-column concept which a higher-capacity two column 10-round magazine. “10 shots quick” became the company’s catch phrase for the pistol, but with an additional round variationsbecame of the Model 1907much were produced, more each commonm in later years.” in the chamber, it had an actual capacity of 11 with only minor internal and external differences. t rounds. Another selling point for the gun was its These pistols were equipped with a rotating m semi-locked breech, which was unique for a pock- unlocking barrel, classifying the action as a f et pistol at the time. The pistol sold well, and going delayed blowback type. The company nonetheless t into 1909 Savage could not keep up with demand. billed it as a locked-breech design. Upon firing, the w Production and sales increased with endorsements barrel rotated about five degrees, moving a lug or f .